The Caribbean Manatee Conservation Center is a research, education, rescue, and rehabilitation partnership established in 2009 in the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico in order to help endangered manatees survive from extinction.

Endangered manatees Caribbean manatees (Trichechus manatus) are a tropical marine mammal threatened from survival throughout their range in the United States (US), Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Central and South America. It is highly endangered in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, mostly by human causes in the form of poaching and watercraft mortality. While over 4,800 manatees are left in Florida, less than 700 survive in Puerto Rico. Manatees used to be hunted in Puerto Rico's coasts, but are now directly threatened by habitat degradation, speeding boats and jet skis. Indirect threats also include a low reproductive rate, genetic bottleneck and low diversity, lack of immigration of adjacent populations, and exposure to adverse coastal health.

If manatees are to survive in Puerto Rico, all stakeholders, including government, academia, environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs), local corporations and all island residents in general, must work together and actively participate in positive actions of management, research, and community involvement that would enhance the survival of the species and preserve them for future generations.

History As a response to this needed effort, the NGO Red Caribeña de Varamientos (Caribbean Stranding Network) partnered with the Inter American University of Puerto Rico to implement research, rescue, rehabilitation, and community outreach programs for manatee conservation through the establishment of the Caribbean Manatee Conservation Center Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Martínez JF. 2015. Capital Improvement Plan for the Puerto Rico Manatee Conservation Center. Centro de Conservación de Manatíes de Puerto Rico, Red Caribeña de Varamientos & Inter American University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR, 30 pp (CMCC). It was previously known as the Puerto Rico Manatee Conservation Center. Through a long-term cooperative agreement, permits and licenses from Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (PRDNER), US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Network and the university slated academic programs to support research and conservation work in the PRMCC with the participation of students and faculty, as well as the means of seeking funds available to academia and community-based organizations to support the manatee conservation initiatives.

While this conservation effort is focused on manatees in Puerto Rico, the CMCC also assists in programs for West Indian manatees in the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Turks and Caicos, Guyana, and Venezuela, and for endangered sister species, such as the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis) in Colombia and Peru, and the West African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis) in Taiwan, Nigeria, and Gabon, Africa. These international partnerships have taken the CMCC's scientists, veterinarians, and technicians around the globe to provide assistance and support in rescue, rehabilitation, and population research projects.

Conservation initiatives

PRMCC implements manatee conservation initiatives in four main fronts or programs: Rescue and stranding response, Rehabilitation and veterinary care, Population research, and Community outreach and education.

Rescue and stranding response Up to 15 cases of stranded manatees are reported in Puerto Rico each year. Some of these cases involve animals that have died near shore, either from natural causes or human-related accidents. Other cases reported consist of live manatees, whether ill, injured, or orphaned in need of veterinary attention. The PRMCC is deputized by both the Commonwealth and Federal governments to respond to these stranding events, and conduct an investigation on the cause of death, including a necropsy, or rescue and transport the live animal to the PRMCC's rehabilitation facility for veterinary treatment and care.

Through dedicated stranding and mortality research and monitoring, the PRMCC has documented over 120 manatee deaths in Puerto Rico, via salvage and necropsies.Bonde RK, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Bossart GD. 2012. Sirenian pathology and mortality assessment. In Hines E, Reynolds J, Aragones L, Mignucci Giannoni AA, Marmontel M (eds) Sirenian Conservation: Issues and strategies in developing countries. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, pp. 148-156. Pathology and disease processes in these cases have been documented cooperatively with veterinary pathologists and manatee biologists of the US Geological Survey (USGS) Sirenia Project in Gainesville, Florida. Since 2015, over 12 successful rescues were conducted in Puerto Rico.

Rehabilitation and veterinary care

The CMCC is one of the 12 facilities federally deputized in the US to hold and care for manatees and one of five critical care manatees facilities. These facilities conform the Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitation Partnership, which includes the following organizations: Cincinnati Zoo, Columbus Zoo, Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park, Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, Miami Seaquarium, Mote Marine Laboratory, Caribbean Manatee Conservation Center, Save the Manatee Club, Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Sea World Orlando, South Florida Museum, Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo, USFWS, USGS Sirenia Project, University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine, and Walt Disney World's The Seas.

As one of the critical care authorized facilities, the CMCC receives ill, injured, or orphaned manatees and provides them with veterinary treatment and rehabilitation care with the main purpose of returning them back to their habitat once they have been cleared of their admission condition and can survive on their own.

A team of experienced marine biologists, veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and caretakers with the help of volunteers, provide treatment and care around-the-clock on a full-time basis. Some cases only require minor treatment, while others, particularly orphaned calves, require up to three years of care at the CMCC, and one-year monitoring in the wild.

Since 1989, the CMCC has tended over 45 rescue and rehabilitation cases of manatees in Puerto Rico, and offered assistance to more than two dozen cases in the Caribbean (British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Guyana, Mexico, Turks and Caicos, and Venezuela), the Amazon (Peru and Colombia), Taiwan and Gabon and Nigeria, Africa. In Puerto Rico, four manatees have been immediately released after the rescue, seven have been released after rehabilitation (Moisés, Rafael, Tuque, Aramaná, Yuisa, Tureyguá, and Mabo) and four are at present in rehabilitation (Guacara, Loíza, Taicaraya, Bajarí). Guacara, originally from Florida, but now a permanent resident of the CMCC, can not be released back to the wild due to floatability problems caused by a boat injury to its right lung in 2008.

Population research Research on the ecology, life history, genetics, distribution, habitat use, and movement of the manatee population in Puerto Rico have been conducted over the past years in a local, national and international cooperative fashion, particularly with colleagues from the USGS Sirenia Project, North Carolina State University, and Universidad de los Andes (Colombia). These efforts have resulted in an edited book (Sirenian Conservation: Issues and strategies in developing countriesHines E, Reynolds J, Aragones L, Mignucci Giannoni AA, Marmontel M (eds). Sirenian Conservation: Issues and strategies in developing countries. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, 326pp.), and over 80 joint publications, analyzing major causes affecting the survival of this species. Some of the most recent peer-reviewed publications in which the PRMCC has participated are: Acoustical and anatomical determination of sound production and transmission in West Indian (Trichechus manatus) and Amazonian (T. inunguis) manatees.Landrau-Giovannetti N, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Reidenberg JS. 2014. Acoustical and anatomical determination of sound production and transmission in West Indian (Trichechus manatus) and Amazonian (T. inunguis) manatees. Anatomical Record 297(10): 1896-1907 Genital papillomatosis associated with two novel mucosotropic papillomaviruses from a Florida manatee (Trichchus manatus latirostris).Ghim S, Joh J, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Rivera-Guzmán AL, Falcón-Matos L, Alsina-Guerrero MM, Rodríguez-Villanueva M, Jensen AB, Bossart GD. 2014. Genital papillomatosis associated with two novel mucosotropic papillomaviruses from a Florida manatee (Trichchus manatus latirostris). Aquatic Mammals 40(2):195-200. Phylogeography and sex-biased dispersal across riverine manatee populations (Trichechus inunguis and Trichechus manatus) in South America.Satizábal P, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Duchêne S, Caicedo-Herrera D, Perea-Sicchar CM, García-Dávila CR, Trujillo F, Caballero SJ. 2012. Phylogeography and sex-biased dispersal across riverine manatee populations (Trichechus inunguis and Trichechus manatus) in South America. PLoS ONE 7(12):e52468. Disseminated toxoplasmosis in Antillean manatees Trichchus manatus manatus from Puerto Rico.Bossart GD, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Rivera-Guzmán AL, Jiménez-Marrero NM, Camus AC, Bonde RK, Dubey JP, Reif JS. 2012. Disseminated toxoplamsosis in Antillean manatees Trichchus manatus manatus from Puerto Rico. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 101:139-144. Puerto Rico and Florida manatees represent genetically distinct groups.Hunter ME, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Pause Tucker K, King TL, Bonde RK, Gray BA, McGuire PM. 2012. Puerto Rico and Florida manatees represent genetically distinct groups. Conservation Genetics 13:1623-1635. Manatees rescue, rehabilitation and release efforts as a tool for species conservation.Adimey N, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Auil NE da Silva VMF, de Carvalho Alvite CM, Morales Vela B, Pinto de Lima R, Rosas FCW. 2012. Manatees rescue, rehabilitation and release efforts as a tool for species conservation. In Hines E, Reynolds J, Aragones L, Mignucci Giannoni AA, Marmontel M (eds) Sirenian Conservation: Issues and strategies in developing countries. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, pp. 204-217. Sirenian pathology and mortality assessment.Bonde RK, Mignucci-Giannoni AA, Bossart GD. 2012. Sirenian pathology and mortality assessment. In Hines E, Reynolds J, Aragones L, Mignucci Giannoni AA, Marmontel M (eds) Sirenian Conservation: Issues and strategies in developing countries. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, pp. 148-156. The role of scientists in sirenian conservation in developing countries.Hines E, Domning D, Aragones L, Marmontel M, Mignucci Giannoni AA, Reynolds JE. 2012. The role of scientists in sirenian conservation in developing countries. In Hines E, Reynolds J, Aragones L, Mignucci Giannoni AA, Marmontel M (eds) Sirenian Conservation: Issues and strategies in developing countries. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, pp. 243-245. West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus) in the Wider Caribbean Region.Self-Sullivan C, Mignucci-Giannoni AA. 2012. West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus) in the Wider Caribbean Region. In Hines E, Reynolds J, Aragones L, Mignucci Giannoni AA, Marmontel M (eds) Sirenian Conservation: Issues and strategies in developing countries. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, pp. 36-46. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Trichechus manatus.Deutsch CJ, Self-Sullivan C, Mignucci-Giannoni AA. 2008. Trichechus manatees. In: IUCN 2014. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3.